Tuesday, September 9, 2008

New Republic: A "pert" Alaskan mediocrity with a "knocked-up daughter"

As Katie Couric knows, words like "pert" (and perky) are not used to describe men. They are used to diminish the authority of accomplished women.
The world is aflame and we have been pondering the knocked-up daughter of a pert and uncannily confident Alaskan mediocrity who was elevated to a national ticket for the purpose of changing the conversation.
That aside, this column has some pretty interesting points:
But the truth is that Sarah Palin is a woman of integrity. I do not say this sardonically. I find nothing phony in her, nothing cynical. She lacks the detachment from one's own purposes that phoniness and cynicism (and genuine thought) require. She is too immediately what she is. Palin is the sort of supporter of the war in Iraq whose son is shipping off to the war in Iraq. This I must respect. She is not a Palm conservative, pausing over the creamed spinach to raise another glass to the America in which she chooses not to dwell. Whatever the Christian conservative way of life is, Palin is living it.
And:
Obama visits the low ground but he prefers the high ground. This may damage him. It leaves him more vulnerable to hypocrisy, as when he solemnly asked reporters to desist from covering Bristol Palin's big news. "I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories," he said. "You know, my mother had me when she was 18." Yes, we know; and we know because he told us, again and again. His narrative of his own family is one of the foundations of his campaign.
But the media don't believe every issue relating to Obama's family is now fair game just because he made family a cornerstone of his campaign, right?

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